Top 10 Benefits of 3D Visualization

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The Benefits of 3D Visualization are becoming more recognized as a necessary and important part of architecture and transportation projects.  Civil FX was recently called upon to create a graphics for an infrastructure project in Las Vegas. Not only did the visualizations help win a 1+ Billion dollar project called Project Neon, but Civil FX is now currently taking the lead with the visualizations!  This has been an exciting project to work on, and it and other projects we are working no have pushed us to create highly accurate, high definition visualizations to show the public what the project will look like once completed.

As the cost for quality 3D visualization for transportation and civil projects has gone down in the past decade, the uses and benefits for this powerful form of communication have grown as well.  We’ve compiled this list of the top 10 ways a visualization can help your project, many of which we’ve seen first hand as we’ve has completely focused on 3D visualization over the past several years.  For a more comprehensive list of benefits for different industries see this article: 50 Ways 3D Visualization Can Help Your Transportation or Civil Project.

Top 10 benefits of 3D Visualization and how it can help your project (in no particular order)

1. Enhances & Improves Visual Communication

   Many, if not the majority of people learn well when they can see something in the best way possible.  From the earliest stages of a project, those invested in a project need to be able to see what a project is going to look like once it is completed.  Even more than still graphics, 3D visualization can quickly and simply show what a project will look like from beginning to end.
   

2. Cost Effective

   While this has not always been the case, the technology behind 3d visualizations has dramatically dropped in the past decade.  Animations can provide incredible cost/benefit ratios since spending thousands of dollars in the marketing phase of a project for an animation video can be the difference in winning a multi-million dollar contract.

3. Easily Show Concepts and Options for a Project

   There are usually many options and concepts for any project.  This could include different routes for a transportation project or different looks and designs for buildings or roads.  A project rendering can quickly and effectively show project managers and clients alike what different options will look like.

4. Precise and Accurate Renderings

   We use actual CAD data, Google Earth and project images, technical drawings and other accurate information to create accurate, high definition visualizations. Blending actual photos with 3D renders can also be an attractive & affordable way to communicate the vision of your project.

5. Easy to Distribute

   It’s very difficult to work with and distribute physical copies of drawings or renderings.  It’s much simpler to upload a non-listed, high definition video to YouTube and send that link to the many people involved in a project than to email back and forth large files that have to have their quality reduced to be able to send.

6. Virtual Reality

   Virtual Reality is going to take over the world very quickly! You can now simply attach a virtual device to your phone allowing you to view videos in a virtual reality setting.  This could include a virtual helicopter tour over a proposed project area or a driver’s seat virtual experience.  See below for a virtual helicopter tour we did for Project Neon.

7. Virtual Centers

   Virtual Centers were a concept we developed as a way to communicate projects using interactive virtual worlds, rendered videos and images and virtual reality tours of the project.  This concept was made a reality on Project Neon in Las Vegas in 2016.

8. Easily Marketable and Shareable

   With Social Media taking over the world it is important to be able to utilize these channels to get your content to the masses. A 3D visualization is a great way to market a concept or project to the public!  Videos are generally more attractive and effective than .pdfs, images, or other traditional ways to communicate a project.  We can also create custom websites, interactive applications and mobile apps for your projects.

9. Catch Problems BEFORE Construction

   Because we build your project virtually in 3D using actual design data, we have found that this process is invaluable in finding potential problems or design problems that typical quality control can miss. Because we usually work with data from most disciplines, cross-discipline problems often show up in the visualization process. An example could be discovering that a sound wall blocks an important sign or landmark.

10. Set Projects Apart from Competition

    Basically this is a summary of the previous points made about the benefits of 3D Visualization.  The beauty, simplicity, and extreme visual capabilities of a high quality 3D visualization can communicate your vision in a way that no other medium can match.